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Carlisle kept his hand over his mouth for several minutes as his eyes flickered over the images carved into the wall. A cure. Bella would be able to cure them all of . . . of being vampires? What did that mean, though? How would she be able to do it? And should she do it?

"Those are valid questions," Nahuel said, causing Carlisle to raise an eyebrow. "You spoke your words to me, friend."

"Oh." Carlisle dropped his hand from his mouth. "So, do you have answers to those valid questions?"

"Some." He turned back toward the wall, gesturing to the figure of, who Carlisle assumed was this Eve/Bella character, raised above the earth. "If she finds her strength, she will ascend into the heavens, where she would remain watchful over humans once again. And yes, she would cure us of our vampire ways. We would return to our human forms, destined to live out our lives as originally intended."

"And what would happen to her?"

Nahuel turned and looked back at him. "Her physical body would cease to exist."

"She will die." Carlisle inhaled a deep, needless breath as he shook his head. "You're telling me she will die."

"Her body, yes, her soul no. But only if she manages to find her strength before he finds her. If she does not and he is successful, he will take her power and plunge the world into darkness and evil. We would not survive, friend."

"This is . . ." Carlisle turned and looked around. "She's only just begun to live. Her human life . . . it was full of pain and agony. We saved her from that life, promised to give her eternity." When Carlisle turned and looked back at Nahuel, he found the young Shaman staring back at the wall. "How much time does she have?"

"Not long. He senses her change, can feel the movements of her people preparing to rally around her, but do not think he has not been preparing for this for a millennia, friend. He has been building his army, and they will fight for him, even in fear."

Carlisle nodded. "Is there any way to stop him without sacrificing her?"

Nahuel frowned as he looked back at him. "No. Only she can stop him, and only if she prepares to take her rightful place once again." Nahuel walked over to him, placing his hand on Carlisle's shoulder. "Friend, you sought her for a reason, trust that you made the right decision."

"I didn't, though. Seek her, I mean. Her father came to me, begged us to change her, to give her a second chance to live. Her human body was failing, and we were almost too late. She was moments from death when she was changed. How am I supposed to go to him and tell him that all we've given her was a few extra months?"

"Her father knew of you, yet you let him live?"

"I did. My family and I, we aren't like Aro, Adam, whatever you want to call him. We value humankind, Nahuel."

"Then perhaps her sacrifice will be harder on you than anyone else."

"Yeah," he murmured, glancing at the carvings again. "Thank you, Nahuel."

"I wish you well, friend, in your journey."

Carlisle bib him farewell before he hurried out of the cave, through the Amazon to where the rest of his family, Zafrina, and Alistair were waiting for him. Each and every one of them looked at him with anticipate, yet he found himself shaking his head, thankful that Edward hadn't made the journey with him. This was not something he would have been able to keep to himself, and it wasn't something he was ready to share. How was he going to tell Edward and Bella that they weren't going to get their happily ever after?

"Let's go," he all but growled as he strolled past them and headed into the Amazon again, uncaring if he was going the right way or not.

"Carlisle, what did you learn?" Garrett called after him, but he simply put his hand up and shook his head.

He just needed some time to process the fact that he was going to lose everyone he ever loved, because if Bella didn't make the decision to save all humankind, they would all die, and if she made the choice to sacrifice for them, for all the little humans of the world, he would lose her, lose Edward, lose who he was. And that wasn't something he wanted to talk about yet. Not just yet.

—Stay—

Once they had piled up their dead, Jacob found himself standing next to the large fire. His eyes were locked on the young body of Collin Littlesea. A part of him knew they were lucky to have only lost one, when the 'bad guys' had lost all of their men. But were they really the bad guys? Hadn't they just fought for their people, the same way he had fought for his? It was too much to accept, too much to understand.

"Hey."

Jacob felt his shoulders tense as he turned and looked behind him, finding Embry Call, Quil Ateara Jr., Brady Fuller, Leah Clearwater, and her little brother Seth standing behind him. "Hey."

"So, lots has happened, huh?" Seth asked, causing those around him to scoff almost in perfect unison.

"Yeah, a lot has happened," Jacob replied with a snort. "I'm sorry for just. . ."

"Bailing on us?" Leah asked, raising an eyebrow and he nodded. "You were with them? The blood suckers while we had to flee our homes, but you're sorry?"

"It wasn't like that," Jacob argued.

Though, when all five of them turned and looked over their shoulders at Jasper, Alice, Charlie, and Renee, all of whom were standing off to the side while Tanya, Irina, and Carmen were in 'discussion' with Eleazar. The slimy ass bastard, Jacob thought.

"Fine, I guess it was like that, but they aren't . . . they aren't like the other vampires."

The four shared a look before Seth said, "They killed Sam, Paul, and Jared."

"Only because they almost killed Charlie and Renee first. I told you not to let them go after them, to let Bella go, but nobody listened to me."

"They were given orders," Leah replied, tilting her head to the side. "From your father, my father, Quil's grandfather. They were ordered and they obeyed. Yet, you defied that order. How do you think your father is going to feel when he finds out?"

Jacob's eyes closed. "He knew, Leah. They all knew. When I tried to help Charlie and Renee, my father gave Sam, Paul, and Jared orders to teach me my place in the pack. He . . . he left me to die along with them."

"Bullshit," Embry scoffed. "They wouldn't do that, Jacob. Your father wouldn't do that."

"Well, he did," Jacob yelled, drawing everyone's attention toward him. Tanya stepped toward him, only to stop when he put his hand up and shook his head. Of course, Leah noticed and she burst out laughing. "Shut up, Leah."

"Oh, my God," she cackled, bending at the waist, bracing her hands on her knees. "You and the blood suckers?"

"Her name is Tanya." Jacob smiled, feeling foolish for trying to get them to understand. "She's my imprint. I . . . I can't live without her. I can't . . . She's everything to me, everything I never realized I could have."

"Wow," Quil snickered, covering his mouth with his hand. "You imprinted on a vamp. Your Dad is going to be so fucking pissed."

Jacob tore his eyes away from Tanya and looked at Quil. "My father is dead."

"What?" he asked, his face crumbling in pain. "But that means . . ."

Jacob nodded. "Gramps is dead, too." And then he looked at Seth and Leah, both of whom were gaping at him in horror. "I'm sorry."

"Who was it?" Leah growled, her eyes flickering to Tanya and Irina first, then to Jasper and Alice.

"The men we just killed," Jacob said, gesturing toward the bodies of the dead Sentinels. "Kind of a lot to understand, but basically, they blamed us for starting a war. Remember the war I told you not to start? Yeah, that one. They were foolish and rash, and it got them killed. And if you don't get your heads out of your ass, it will get you killed, too!"

"Dad is dead?" Seth whimpered, dropping to his knees. "Our Dad is dead?"

Leah knelt next to her brother, wrapping her arm around him as she turned her tear-filled eyes Jacob. "Damn, Jake, you want to stop being a dick for five minutes?"

"I'm sorry." Jacob dragged his hand through his hair. "You know, what? I'm not sorry. I'm not. We were fed a bunch of bullshit lies about who the enemies are, and it's done nothing but hurt each and every one of us. Look around you!" he snarled, gesturing toward the rest of their people. "Our women and children had to flee our home in the middle of the Goddamn night because our leaders decided to start a war over a girl none of us gave two shits about until we found out they were going to change her."

"So we should have what? Just forget the treaty? Let the blood suckers do what they want?"

"Yes."

While Quil, Embry, and Brady gasped, taking several steps backward like Jacob had just suggested they should be dancing naked in the moonlight, Leah helped Seth to his feet and they both moved so that they were standing next to Jacob.

"He's right," Seth said, his voice thick and filled with emotions that Jacob had never heard before. "He's right. We . . . He's just right."

Jacob grabbed the back of his neck, his eyes shifting from Quil, Brady, and Embry to where Tanya, Irina, Carmen, Eleazar now stood next to Charlie, Renee, Jasper, and Alice. Abel, like him, was standing on the other side of the large pyre grieving the loss of his own people. They may have started this war, but he had lost his own, just like Jacob had, like Leah and Seth had, like Quil had.

He turned back at the men in front of him. "Look, a war is coming, and if we hope to survive, we need to make a decision now: whose side are we on? I choose to be on the side of humankind, and that means, I stand with them," he said, stretching his hand toward Tanya, who smiled and hurried to his side, letting him tuck her against him. "Whose side are you on?"

"Damn, Jake," Embry muttered with a shake of his head.

Brady reached over and placed his hands on Embry and Quil's shoulders. "Of course we're on the side of humans, but that don't mean we're going to love all them vamps."

"Not asking you to love all of them, just the ones who showed up here and had our back today. They didn't have to fight for us, Brady."

"No, I guess they didn't," Quil said, clearing his throat. "We're on your side, Jake. We'll do whatever it takes, but where do we go now? We can't stay here, can we?"

"We go back to Forks." At the sound of Alice's voice, everyone turned and looked at her. She smiled as she shared a look with those around her, and then back to Jacob. "Wait for the others to join us and we make a plan, because I sure as hell am not planning on letting anyone hurt my family, even the ones that smell like skunks ass after a hard rain."

While Leah, Seth, Embry, Quil, and Brady gasped, Jacob burst out laughing. "Yeah, let's take our people home."

—Stay—

Bella felt physically ill. As she put her hand up against the wall, letting her fingers trace along the delicate carvings, she struggled not to scream, not to slam her fists against the hard rock, not to let the rage inside her take over. But mostly, she struggled not lose what little control she had, because unless Edward suddenly learned how to read the Sentinel writings, he wasn't aware what the carvings said.

To her everything was clear. She alone would have the ability, the power to stop Aro Volturi, to stop all the blood drinkers, but in order to do that, she would have to sacrifice herself, her soul to the Sentinel part of her. She would no longer be Bella Swan, but would have to accept her role as Eve, as the leader of the Sentinels. But it would also mean leaving behind the love of her life. Her sacrifice would end all the vampires, eradicate the poison that filled them.

"We should leave," she said, somehow managing to keep her voice from faltering. "Now."

"What does it say?" Edward asked, but she simply shook her head and hurried out of the cavern, through the tunnels and out of the cave. He grabbed her arm and spun her around, his eyes meeting hers as he brought his other hand up to her face. What does it say, love?

Bella opened her mouth several times, but the words wouldn't come. Couldn't come. How was she supposed to tell him that she was going to have to leave him? Leave all of them? Edward had given her a second chance to live. They were supposed to have a lifetime together, a lifetime full of laughter and adventure.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, tugging her face away from his hand. "We should go. We . . . we need to go."

"Bella," Edward said, reaching for her once more, but she put her hands up in front of her and took several steps back. "Okay, okay. Let's go home."

They traveled in silence, though she felt both Edward and Cain watching her. Cain, of course, knew what the writing said, knew what she was going to have to do, yet he said nothing. Maybe because she was 'Eve' and she was supposed to be the leader of his people, or maybe he just didn't want to cross her. At that moment, she didn't care.

They had just reentered Colorado Springs when both of their phones chimed over and over with new text messages. They paused in an alley as they pulled their devices out of their pockets and checked their messages. She had a text from Alice that told her to meet them at the house in Forks, and then a text from Carlisle checking in and then another one that said they were on their way back and he loved her very much, which made her wonder if he had found writings that matched hers. Though, she didn't ask. She simply replied to both of them with thumbs up emoji, and went to the next message, this one from her father.

When she opened it, she found herself smiling, crying tearlessly, and laughing all at the same time. It was a picture of them cuddle together, their eyes red and their smiles real and genuine. The simple words, 'We love you' were written under the picture. She wanted to see her mom and dad, to feel their arms around her once more, knowing it could very well be the final time. She wanted a lifetime with Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett. She wanted to get to know Esme better, watch Jacob and Tanya be disgusting and in love. She wanted to live the life that had been promised to her when she said yes, but she wasn't going to get that life.

"Looks like we're going home."

She looked over at Edward, who was gazing at her with more love and passion that she had ever felt. "Home sounds really nice right now."

"Shall we?" he asked, holding his hand out to her.

She nodded, wrapping her fingers around hers and tugging her against him.

"I don't know why you won't tell me what the writings said, but know that I love you, and nothing, Bella, nothing will ever change that."

"I love you, too," she whispered, leaning her forehead against his chest. "If only love was enough."

And without giving him the chance to question her more, she turned and started toward the car they had rented before heading into the mountains, knowing they would need reliable transportation with Cain joining them. Once they were on the road, her in the passenger seat with her knees pulled up to her chest, Edward driving, and Cain sitting stiffly in the back seat, she realized she should have just let the cancer kill her. Death as a human would have been easier, expected. Given life only to have to give it away to save humanity . . . Well, that didn't sound very fair to Bella.

Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews. So much to discuss once they are all back together again, huh?